Clear Span Rivalry: The World's Fairs of 1889-1893

Abstract

One of the most characteristic expressions of late-nineteenth-century iron-and-glass construction was the immense clear span. When the spans began to reach a heroic scale it was only natural that they became competitive. Near the end of the century, the spans of two buildingsone at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889, and the other at the World's Columbian Exposition of I893-were far greater than ever before; and yet the fact that the span of 1893 resulted from an explicit rivalry with the span of I889 has been overlooked.1